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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kid · cell · press · season · degree · race · board · chair

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. race — a contest
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. race — humankind
  7. season — in sport
  8. press — newspapers
  9. degree — from a university
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. race — the arms race
  12. cell — in biology
  13. chair — a leader
  14. kid — to tease
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. kid — child
  17. degree — an amount
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. press — a publisher
  20. press — to push
  21. degree — temperature
  22. season — of the year
  23. board — to get on
  24. board — a committee

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com